"Goblins per round" is obviously so much better that "damage per round" for the sheer realism of it. "Damage = 1d6, 2d6, or 3d6, then the other guy goes, and does 1d6, 2d6 or 3d6, depending on factors I haven't figured out yet" is not really all that realistic, for obvious reason. "Goblins per round" is badass as fuck, for obvious reasons, and also calcus reasons.
The first time I ran a Goblin encounter, I hadn't planned for a voice and accent for them. I instinctively gave them a raspy voice and Italian Brooklyn accent. My players were very entertained, so I stuck with it.
Chris Snyder is this fun banter with a hint of truth or bluntly your opinion attempting to actually come across as a wangrod? Not that I don’t agree I’m just trying to figure out.
I was thinking the same thing, but if players solve the encounter that way I think you should just reward them for being smart and not try to work around it per se. At least not mechanically. But breaking concentration is always an option if the goblins know who casted it. Also the players probably wouldn't immediately know that casting silence is the solution because the abilities only go once per round.
@@p00tis Silence can only be cast on a point not an object or person, it would buy them an Action while the creature disengage moves out of the 20ft sphere but outside of them it wouldn't break it entirely. If they managed to get someone next to it with Sentinel as well or some other movement restriction in place on the boss then they just deserve the win really.
@@magnusanderson6681 not to rain any negativity but creating an idea for your later leveled characters isnt about making a high leveled monster but about an engaging creature that suprises and excites your players. A ankheg boss for high levels who spawns smaller ankheg when damaged makes your playera have to think. Maybe make cold attacks neutralize the acid spawns so if they figure it put they will feel accomplishment in the middle of a fight. Just My long two cents.
"You die when I say you die!" Was a hit at my game last night. 3 "Dead" Goblins got up with 1 HP each, and took an extra attack at my players. 5th Session ever as DM (Thanks Matt!), running Yawning Portal, Sunless Citadel.
I slapped it on a Necromancer I made, when his minions went down while he was still alive, he just made them get back up with 1HP. My players reaction when he first did it was "Oh he's annoying". My player's reaction when he did it AGAIN was "Oh he's gotta go". They threw him off a walkway forty feet in the air.
I tried this out. My party of 5 had to go and fight a bandit camp. My party is very smart and know their way to effectively get items and gear. They bought potions, rope, traps, make shift bombs, molotov, gas bombs, poison weapons. They did everything the could to shut this bandit camp down in one encounter. The bandit captain who had 50 hp.. sounded like chump changes to the two clerics, gunslinger/rogue, bear barbariant, and a fighter/barbarian. However I gave that captain 3 villain actions. "CALL FOR HELP!" two bandits come out of any of the 4 tents in the camp as they woke up late or were getting ready. "RAIN HELL!" the captains ordered all bandits to fire a ranged weapon a second time! "TOUGH AS NAILS" bandits be angry. The captain yells at 2 bandits of his choice and they are immediately brought to 1 hp. Each villain action would fire differently. Call for help only fired if the barbarians advanced, rain hell only fired if the cleric used a big spell, tough as nails only fired to keep the fight going a little longer and was my dm way of putting a little surprise of a guy getting back up to be an annoyance. My party all got hit hard, but they went full Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th on those bandits. It was super cool and super fun. There were moments were they had to use bought items to help them out. My thought was this. Have an action to deal damage but never guarantee it like "rain hell" Have something to keep the players on edge, be more strategic and use resources and abilities. "Call for help" Something to make the fight annoying.. make the players REALLY want to beat the captain. "Tough as nails" followed by the captain laughing at the players failure. Really pissed them off and when they took down the bandit captain, they cheered.
“This is my own homebrew nonsense.” Which is why it’s so much fun!! I’ve got 1 player who used to say, “That’s not what that creature can do!”. And I would respond in a 4th-wall-breaking narrator’s voice, “Clearly, this PC does not know what he/she thinks they know. This should be entertaining.” Eventually one of the other players said, “Dude, this is Mark’s World… roll with it.” So it became an inside joke, a verb - my homebrew monsters were “Mark’d”.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Don’t get me wrong I’m ready for kingdoms and warfare. However, I always have room for another Villains and Monster Manual. I especially love the out of the box ideas Matt comes up with. I’ve been playing and DMing for many many years now and he always comes up with a new and most importantly fun way of designing encounters and monsters. Made me go back and buy the 4th edition core set just to mine for power and abilities for my bad guys. So I would love to see a Covillian Monster & Villain Tome.
9:12 - "I'm not here to make more work for my self" - Matt, and I intend this in the most sincere way I can delivery this - this is some of the best advice you've given. Keep it up.
I ran the improved ankheg against the five 10 year olds in the dnd after school club I run today. They were all level 5. I think it was the most memorable battle they've had. It was intense and almost 3 of them went down. Especially when it exploded at the end. So thank you very much for making our club even better. Gonna have 2 of them ambush the adult group I run for at the weekend. All level 9. Very excited!
Matthew Colville Your channel gave me the confidence to GM. Now, D&D is part of our homeschool curriculum and my wife and sons have all tried GMing. Thanks.
For a long time, I've believed that encounters need to "change" after two rounds, otherwise they may become boring. This genius idea of adding custom actions to add combat variation and NPC personality is freakin' GOLDEN! Thanks, Matt, you always inspire!
Been doing something like this for years. In essence: play the monsters to their ability, not their stat block. I had a Chimera with a Intelligence boosting magic item drop rocks, use weather cover, etc. Tension was high. It got away. They HATE that Chimera. Now they’re invested.
This reminds me of something I did with my Chimera. The while 8 session campaign was leading to this big dungeon and the treasury of the villain was guarding by a Chimera. The players spent their 7 sessions building a crew to go to the dungeon. They were 5th level 3 players and 4 npcs ranging from cr 1/4 to cr 2. What I ended up doing is bumping it's hp, and giving the goat head spells (idea came from dragon's dogma). I also had it always flying as long as it had a breath attack to use so half the party couldn't reach for an attack unless they did something creative. And creative they were.
@@chaotic28 I think they have designed 5e in a way that a 6e could never happen. The rules are soooo open that you can just change the rules to fix any problems that exist.
@@brettpage Do you mean the fact that the other two of the three core D&D pillars, exploration and social, are so underutilized and underdeveloped by the mechanics that we DMs have to figure on our own out how to actually make they work? Yeah, really open.
@@framerate269 "Do you mean the fact that the other two of the three core D&D pillars, exploration and social, are so underutilized and underdeveloped by the mechanics that we DMs have to figure on our own out how to actually make they work? Yeah, really open." Agreed!
This is the single greatest encounter balancing advice ever presented for 5th edition. I use this technique all the time now and constantly refer new DMs to this video. Thank you Matt, for being such an amazing treasure and resource!
I' ll definately use this, I get so bored with players destroying my beasties before they can do anything cool ..thank you very much! Its great inspiration
Good stiuff. Honest, Matt, at some point you're either going to have to create an original system or have a collection of supplements that so meaningfully change 5e as to be indistinguishable from one. You're always quick to identify the weaknesses and sacred cows of D&D & suggest homebrew in a way that Wizards never will for fear of weakening the profitability of their license.
Idk, everyone likes legendary actions. I think its more an issue that they dont make tools for gms to make their own content. 5e monster creation rules are so bad and such a step back from 4e I cant help but suspect malice.
@@magnusanderson6681 This is where something like DnDBeyonds upcoming monster creator could be a massive boon to the homebrew world as it will use the backend Wizards math to do all the calculations and allow for much easier customization of new or existing monsters. They've even talked about a CR slider that will essentially up/down level an existing monster, really cool stuff.
Back again. Almost ritualistic for me to come back to this video before important fights. This really is some of the finest content you’ve ever made, matt.
As a DM who has struggled with Monsters (especially single monsters) being too easy without being overtly Tanky/Powerful, this video is a lifesaver! I just went back to comb through all the Running the Game videos. DMing this week and I'll definitely be trying out AOMs
You forgot one obvious villain action for the goblins: "Delay them", "Slow them down", "Keep them busy" or something similar. Him shouting this means that he is about to retreat, leaving the goblins to their fate and maybe forcing the players hands. Can they afford to let him escape? They might get to see him again later if they no not stop him
It might be used after the "Kill" command round. If the gob boss sees that after every murdering effort his force cant beat the pcs, he just uses hes lackeys as meatshield to escape. Cool idea.
It might also be used as a DM screwup protection, if you accidentally used to many goblins or if the dice are not cooperating, by removing the boss from this encounter.
The Running the Game series got me into, well, running the game. Each video makes me more excited to run, and more skilled at doing so. Thanks, Matt. Thanks, MCDM.
It was both amazing to see my group's faces when my Bugbear boss acted on their turns and for once caused them to take a look at the boss as a real threat. They usually avoid planning much but seeing them react to a goblin running to give him a healing potion and them trying to intercept him was great. Using this for all my boss monsters, convinced me to get the stronghold and followers that I was going back and forth with.
the first campaign I ever ran was lost mines of phandelver. It was for friends who had never played D&D before. I rebuilt the last boss fight with the Drow in wave echo cave, and this video was really really helpful. they were blown away, not by the amount of HP the drow mage had, but what he did and all the tricks he pulled, like using the corpses of his dead giant spider minions to create an undead abomination spider, and the players were absolutely thrilled afterward, all the while the drow sat on his throne and barely moved himself, until his hubris's got him killed by the PC barbarian. Thank you Matt, it was alot of fun.
I like the idea of the acid for blood activating each time it's attacked, but with a dex save. First time it's quite hard as it's not expected, but from then on it's much easier to make as everyone knows to avoid it. This done with the number to beat changing, or with advantage after knowing about it and/or disadvantage before. The idea is it's unlikely to hit at all often after the first time, but there's a chance. Also only 1D4 damage with no bonuses.
Just DM'd my first game and it went over extremely well! All the players said they had an amazing time and said I did a great job as the DM. Thanks for all your awesome videos Matt!
9:17 This is potentially the single best advise I think any DM can hear. A lot of New DM's end up rules lawyering themselves out of DMing, when they don't have to.
Back when I was running homebrews, this is essentially the process I went through to streamline my side of encounters. When I recently started running D&D, I somehow managed to forget this. Thank you for the reminder.
Nearly two years after this I still refer to this video every now and then, while also suggesting it and all Matt's work to everyone who will listen to me.
Villain Actions and Reactions remind me of Magic: the Gathering. Reactons: Waitwaitwait---before you go to combat.. In response! Villain Action: Oh, on your end step... It's like playing against Esper Control.
@@rconnor2006 That's true. Do you think he meant for a Villain Action to be used at the end of the monster's turn, or at some other point? And I assume, once per round, not more than once.
By Riker's beard! This blew my mind. Breaking a boss encounter down into just the key stats and abilities is genius. The villain actions as a semi-scripted set of legendary actions is such a cool concept. My brain is on fire! Thank you for posting this.
a few years ago i design a cockatrice matriarc that had a reaction in which she could move and up to her speed and get a free attack against whoever killed one of her babies. that's one of my favourite lvl 1 encounters i've ever made.
Hey Matt, I just wanted to say thanks for this series. I discovered it a year ago on accident with zero knowledge of D&D. After binging a few episodes I taught myself and 5 of my friends the rules. And we play every week! Now my friends are also running / playing with new people. So your videos have sparked about 15 new people into discovering D&D
This is really cool! I know it is a bit late but from this I made a Goblin Boss called Klank. A huge chunky boy who wears a patchwork mess of armour that the players can knock-off to reduce his AC. He has a bonus action to call in 2 additional goblins (if available from a pre-rolled pool) He has a reaction called "Gimme That!" where he can pick up a bit of armour (scattered around the lair) or steal a shield from a nearby goblin to affix to his armour, if he is hit by an attack. My Villain Actions mostly require the goblin's to use their reaction to perform the given action. This is hoping to allow the players to continue to move around and keep it dynamic. Then he has three Villain Actions. "Grab One Quick!": At end of any player's turn, he allows each goblin to pickup a shield or weapon as a free action and may then use their reaction to use it either as an attack (improvised or not) or to equip it (shield / armour). "Bring Them Down!": At end of any player's turn, all goblins can immediately use their reaction to attack a player twice. "Protect Me, Idiots!": Near the end of battle, at the end of any player's turn, if Klank's AC is reduced to below 14, he is able to disengage and move up to his movement speed and command the remaining goblin's to do the same, forming a barrier of goblins between the players and Klank, . Klank has a twin sister who is more of necromancy and magic and rides a Giant Wolf Spider, so should pair nicely for a memorable and interesting fight! Any suggestions?
I know I'm super late to comment, but oh well. A few months ago, my players were faced by a big undead giant who had a bunch of undead viking soldiers. He was essentially a big ol' healthpool with a big claw attack. I did use this advice to spice up the fight though. Each round, he would roar as a bonus action and give the minions another multiattack. Really put the pressure on the players and they were super engaged. Thank you for the advice! Always a great listen between sessions.
used the Goblin Boss against my players once, and after they experienced 2 of the abilities, the party wizard casted Silence on the Goblin Boss, and since he was in melee with the Sentinel Barbarian, he couldnt run to do the abilities, even thou i couldnt use the abilities was a fun encounter :V
Some thoughts: I think that for boss monsters it's also important to be in the heads of the players. In the case PCs encounter a goblin boss that convokes goblins and rise them from the dead, they will probably just focus the boss. It can be a problem because they might just kill it in one or two rounds. Hence a reaction or action like "protect me with your lives!" where the selfish boss will use other goblins as shields against heroes weapons and spells, as long as there are other goblins near him. It's also a more intelligent and dynamic way to give the boss more HP. And I can imagine the massive (for a goblin) goblin boss grabbing a tiny goblin minion just to ensure not getting hurt. For the solo monster: PCs will want to argue that they can get opportunity attacks while the beast is burrowing his way. And I'm not sure what to tell them, because it would make sense. I would probably add a screeching bonus action or something when the beast decides to burrow, forcing PCs to make a save to be able to take an opportunity attack.
I’m pretty sure that’s actually an ability that goblin bosses have, where if another goblin is standing next to them and they get hit, they can make their ally take the hit instead of them.
Sorry that this is two years late, but: 1) Give the monster the mobile feat. 2) Let it take disengage as a bonus action 3) Unless they have sentinile, let them take the AOO and just don't subtract that damage done from the monster. They will literally have no way of knowing.
This is 4E D&D monster design. One of the best features of 4E was completely replacing the 3E stat blocks and "throw some sorcerer levels on it," design.
Yeah solos in general are kind of tough to write in any turn based game, since it amounts to a bunch of PCs focus firing on one foe. Even legendary actions don't seem to do a hell of a lot since they're often not all that powerful to really be game changers. It's much more dynamic in a game like Dungeon World where failing at attacking means the enemy hits you. That gets more of an interesting set up where the boss monster gets more actions the more PCs there are, and has that ability to take on the whole group at once.
Late, but Pathfinder 2e does some awesome stuff with solo monsters, especially with its action economy. A single tough enough enemy can singlehandedly take on a huge party, and the best part is that the math actually backs it up, rather than being as arbitrary as 5e's challenge rating system works
Totally agree with your monster design choices! Thank you for this awesome inspiration! I'm a 4E DM from Germany, and preferring the compact and concise monster/villain stat blocks from 4th edition to the sometimes convoluted mess that can be 5th edition, especially for spellcasting npcs. I've run into the 4E problem of solo monsters not really being able to hold up against a party of 5 slightly more powerful than average pcs for more than three rounds. My first boss monster in my first level adventure was a spectator based on the stat block of the beholder gauth in the monster manual, but it did not last long enough to inflict any meaningful damage to the party due to a freezing spell cast by the wizard slowing him down and reducing him to one action per turn only. I also forgot to make his saving throws, so that's on me. But I am sure that fight would have been more memorable if I had given the spectator more opportunities to act. I'm designing a vengeful ghost / banshee hybrid for my next adventure, and I think this time I am much better prepared. It will have a reaction to phase into the ground or through architecture and go lurking when hit by an effective attack (anything that does full damage despite it being insubstantial), it will have a rechargeable ability to try and possess a pc's body and control it until the pc saves against being possessed, a necrotic standard melee attack and a paralysing shriek that hits every creature inside a near radius, as well as a dazing gaze of horror as a standard short ranged attack. Now I just need to plan 1 villain action per round and make it one ot the ghost's special attacks. It is meant as the only monster in a small mystery adventure, so the pcs (3rd level 4E party of 5 with two healers/leaders, 2 controllers and 1 striker) will be able to go nova on it. I'm not sure yet how many hitpoints are appropriate, but 150 sound about right to me at the moment, given my experience with them fighting bosses. We'll see how it goes.
I used this video for my demon medusa, and it was epic. They absolutely loved it, were challenged, and felt like they had really achieved something. You're an amazing man. Must be the hair.
Probably the best advice you've given to date for creating dynamic monsters that become memorable encounters. Quick, dirty, effective, and best of all, if you do it right, your players think you did a lot more work than you actually did to produce results like this.
The way I handle this is by giving “boss fight” enemies multiple combat turns to even out the action economy. It makes it clear how different this enemy encounter is from other ones.
Hey Matt, just in case you actually read this. I know you like cool funky languages in-game. Back in the old *The Keep on the Borderlands* they include a cool little piece of lore in the form of "yelling 'bree-yark!' is the goblin equivalent of yelling 'Hey Rube!'." @8:30 caused this to come to mind. ;-)
@@messydeskproductions4159 I think you mean "in rumours" as there is a rumour section early in the module and it does include a rumour that 'bree-yark' is goblin for 'we surrender'. But that's clearly just Gygax trolling the players, as in the encounters it's revealed that "If there is a cry of *'BREE-YARK' (similar to 'Hey Rube')*, 2 of the guards will rush to the secret door, toss a sack of 250 gold to the ogre and ask him to help them.
I had been doing this exact sort of advice for about a year now, and it not only works and isn’t that difficult to do, but it makes encounters feel waaaay more engaging for the DM. It makes things exciting cause now the monsters are doing things creatively that feel thematic instead of just hitting players till they die. It works, it’s fun, try it!
YES!! I have used this now in 2 different situations -- first a level 1 party against Sephek Kaltro in Rise of the Frostmaiden. Made for an EPIC fight; second for a 9th level party against a frost-giant-drider guardian a snowy mountain pass entrance into the abyss. In both cases the "villain" was a solo monster and having numerous options for "villain actions", bonus actions, and reactions, made everything SO much better without killing the party. The key for me in both cases was adding abilities around things like additional movement for the villain, debuffing the party, reactions that make the villain's flavor/theme come to life. I can't thank you enough, Matt, for sharing this freely. Hands down the single most important change I've ever made in my game and the players seemed so much more engaged during the combat than they have been against "standard" solo monsters.
Just have to add on to the pile. For three weeks I have rejiggered several monsters to use during my D&D games. I started with your Ankheg, and added two more of my own. The dynamicism of the encounters is just extraordinary and the players left the table totally blown away by the experience. I am not going back! Kudos!
Rahadin from Curse of Strahd was one of my favorite villians there to play just because he had multiattack as well as an AOE bonus action attack. He was a boss himself.
*THIS. VIDEO. IS. JUST. SO. RIGHTEOUS.* JUST LEAVING MY DAILY DOSE OF POSITIVITY - THE KNOWLEDGE HERE BROUGHT ME SO MUCH JOY AND INSIGHT SO LONG AGO. BRAVO MR. COLVILLE, BRAVO.
Thank you for what you doing. I'm a new DM playing 5e, and my wife is the PC (new, awesome character). We played a lot of tabletop tactical games in the past. The adventure I have chosen/inventing is working out really well. I like this channel so much because it is giving me many ideas to keep it interesting.
Hey Matt, I just wanted to say thank you for this video, it's given me a whole new perspective on how to tinker with monsters and make them both more compelling and more challenging for a group of higher level players. I've been working in action oriented encounters for a few sessions now and the players seem to love them, I don't think the players know exactly what I'm doing, but they definitely react with a ton of surprise and excitement when a hobgoblin warlord yells at his underlings they don't have permission to die and they get back up for another round of combat after the players knocked them down!
Coming soon to my game, a Yeti that sprays snow into players eyes as a reaction when it gets hit and can call down an avalanche and partially bury characters if it gets really hurt
One thing I loved in old Magic: the Gathering sets were Goblins that did things when you sacrificed them. Cards like Goblin Grenade and Mogg Fanatic. Maybe a round 3 or 4 ability for the Goblin Boss could be that the Boss orders one of its minions to make a suicide attack? I'm just imagining a Goblin screaming "WITNESS ME!" as it grabs a torch and a cask of oil, charging at the party.
I've already been doing some of these things for some encounters in my games the past few months (just ideas that came to me, great minds think alike!). Action economy is SO IMPORTANT when having one monster against a party. This video is super helpful to build off the work I've been doing. Thanks so much for sharing!
Matt what makes you so awesome is that you look like you are having fun explaining all this to us. It is infectious and thank you! You truly are a river to your people! We are your people!
This is genius and it has really taken my game to a next level, made mid to high level encounters much more interesting, and made planning the encounters exciting and interesting again for me personally. I usually find plot, setting, characters to be the most interesting part of DM prep, but adding villain actions and thinking of phases of combat transformed encounter building into something akin to writing a little story. Thank you so much! You showed this DM with 25 years of experience some awesome new tricks!
Legendary or Villain actions are absolutely key to make battles feel fun. I really like the Villain Action structure you have here. It helps enormously to have monsters not feel like bullet sponges or just pure damage dealers. One thing I often do with opportunistic predators (lions, bears, hook horrors, etc.) is make them really mean but have them nope out when they get to about half hit points. That makes them threatening on the initial strike but also gives the PCs incentive to hit hard to drive them back. Other monsters are much more prone to fighting to the death. I've done a goblin boss who was unthreatening itself but had an action to command other goblins to attack. It also had a reaction to sacrifice one of its goblins to take a PC blow. Eventually the PCs managed to fry most of the goblin allies and at that point the boss was pretty well useless, but they really didn't like him.
I did a similar mechanism based on the alien rulers from xcom 2 DLC. Basically they acted after every unique action a character took and It really tested the tactical aspect and shook things up for a change of pace. Im currently implementing It for Pathfinder 2, which i believe it Will work even better with the multiple actions and all.
I stumbled across this while using dnd videos as background noise. I not only paid close attention, but I ended up taking notes. This gem has revitalized my entire approach to setting up enemies and combat. Thanks Matt!
This has been the single most beneficial video I have ever seen in terms of improving combat in my own game. I've come back to rewatch it again and again. This weekend I ran a hag boss fight that used this idea to employ a progressive series of weird homebrewed single-use magic items. One round she'd stick a wooden straw into a player's neck and suck out HP to heal herself. Another, she'd throw a set of steel teeth with wings through a window to alert allies to start executing hostages. A mirror that created a lifelinked duplicate of herself, a cloud if biting flies in a jar, a boiling teapot flying through the air trying to hit PCs in the head... it was a lot of fun to come up with wierd one-off items for her to pull out of her pockets and pouches. It was the most fun I've had running combat in DnD, and my players got a whole slew of cool, dramatic combat moments (and one of my players got to reveal a bunch of her backstory). So thankful Matt shares his talent for design with us.
Matt! Thanks so much for everything you do! I recently took over as our groups DM in September and over the last two weeks have been consuming every video you have on "Running the Game." I've already put so much of it to use and this video is no exception. Congrats on the new Kickstarter as well, you have a backer in me as I just want to say thank you for all the help you have been for me and my group.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Goblins Per Round, or GPR, is how I do all of my encounter building math
geoxstellar I don’t know why but for some reason now I’m imagining a bunch of goblins being launched out of a t shirt cannon.
@@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527 semi automatic goblins.
"Goblins per round" is obviously so much better that "damage per round" for the sheer realism of it. "Damage = 1d6, 2d6, or 3d6, then the other guy goes, and does 1d6, 2d6 or 3d6, depending on factors I haven't figured out yet" is not really all that realistic, for obvious reason.
"Goblins per round" is badass as fuck, for obvious reasons, and also calcus reasons.
This is definitely going into my monster creation 'go-to' BA from now on. I love this creative method.
I make my goblins all goblin minions and then throw as many of them as possible at the players. So now its mgpr or minion goblins per round
"Y'all got anymore of them Action Oriented Monster videos?" **scratch,scratch**
Dael kingsmil
Guess this comment is the genesis moment for Flee Mortals!! :D :D
@@Castheknotted fact
MonarchsFactory is legit
I think my Goblin Boss voice is basically my Orc voice, but I think I could have done a good, angry, squeaky goblin headman if I did it again.
Matthew Colville if your Duergar voice is any portent, it will be terrific
The first time I ran a Goblin encounter, I hadn't planned for a voice and accent for them. I instinctively gave them a raspy voice and Italian Brooklyn accent. My players were very entertained, so I stuck with it.
@@chrissnyder8415 you think this isn't edited?
The 4th is strong with this one...
Love it.
Chris Snyder is this fun banter with a hint of truth or bluntly your opinion attempting to actually come across as a wangrod?
Not that I don’t agree I’m just trying to figure out.
-"I cast Silence on the Gobo Boss, gg DM"
-"You start feeling tremors under your feet"
Hm. Silence would break the goblin encounter. I wonder if ways to get around it.
I was thinking the same thing, but if players solve the encounter that way I think you should just reward them for being smart and not try to work around it per se. At least not mechanically. But breaking concentration is always an option if the goblins know who casted it. Also the players probably wouldn't immediately know that casting silence is the solution because the abilities only go once per round.
@@p00tis Silence can only be cast on a point not an object or person, it would buy them an Action while the creature disengage moves out of the 20ft sphere but outside of them it wouldn't break it entirely.
If they managed to get someone next to it with Sentinel as well or some other movement restriction in place on the boss then they just deserve the win really.
@@p00tis They'd just run away to get reinforcements.
Enemies abound on the goblin boss.
Now he only sees enemies. Chances are he'll run.
As of now, all the standard Ankhegs are juveniles and this is the true ankheg
You can even have ancient ankheg the size of a terasque for a high level party. Who spawns loads of juveniles on the BG.
@@kamnis33 The point is that monsters dont need to be high level to be interesting, though.
@@magnusanderson6681 not to rain any negativity but creating an idea for your later leveled characters isnt about making a high leveled monster but about an engaging creature that suprises and excites your players. A ankheg boss for high levels who spawns smaller ankheg when damaged makes your playera have to think. Maybe make cold attacks neutralize the acid spawns so if they figure it put they will feel accomplishment in the middle of a fight. Just My long two cents.
Ankheg Soldier
@@malcolmhensley2605 this sounds really cool
"You die when I say you die!" Was a hit at my game last night. 3 "Dead" Goblins got up with 1 HP each, and took an extra attack at my players. 5th Session ever as DM (Thanks Matt!), running Yawning Portal, Sunless Citadel.
I slapped it on a Necromancer I made, when his minions went down while he was still alive, he just made them get back up with 1HP. My players reaction when he first did it was "Oh he's annoying". My player's reaction when he did it AGAIN was "Oh he's gotta go". They threw him off a walkway forty feet in the air.
@@ConnorGrummer "They threw him off a walkway forty feet in the air." Sounds like a reasonable resolution.
I tried this out. My party of 5 had to go and fight a bandit camp. My party is very smart and know their way to effectively get items and gear. They bought potions, rope, traps, make shift bombs, molotov, gas bombs, poison weapons. They did everything the could to shut this bandit camp down in one encounter.
The bandit captain who had 50 hp.. sounded like chump changes to the two clerics, gunslinger/rogue, bear barbariant, and a fighter/barbarian.
However I gave that captain 3 villain actions.
"CALL FOR HELP!" two bandits come out of any of the 4 tents in the camp as they woke up late or were getting ready.
"RAIN HELL!" the captains ordered all bandits to fire a ranged weapon a second time!
"TOUGH AS NAILS" bandits be angry. The captain yells at 2 bandits of his choice and they are immediately brought to 1 hp.
Each villain action would fire differently. Call for help only fired if the barbarians advanced, rain hell only fired if the cleric used a big spell, tough as nails only fired to keep the fight going a little longer and was my dm way of putting a little surprise of a guy getting back up to be an annoyance.
My party all got hit hard, but they went full Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th on those bandits. It was super cool and super fun. There were moments were they had to use bought items to help them out.
My thought was this. Have an action to deal damage but never guarantee it like "rain hell"
Have something to keep the players on edge, be more strategic and use resources and abilities. "Call for help"
Something to make the fight annoying.. make the players REALLY want to beat the captain. "Tough as nails" followed by the captain laughing at the players failure. Really pissed them off and when they took down the bandit captain, they cheered.
“This is my own homebrew nonsense.” Which is why it’s so much fun!!
I’ve got 1 player who used to say, “That’s not what that creature can do!”. And I would respond in a 4th-wall-breaking narrator’s voice, “Clearly, this PC does not know what he/she thinks they know. This should be entertaining.”
Eventually one of the other players said, “Dude, this is Mark’s World… roll with it.” So it became an inside joke, a verb - my homebrew monsters were “Mark’d”.
I never enter a Starfinder campaign without doubling my monsters hp's.
People think DnD is videogames and just go in with that mentality and it really shows, sadly. Glad someone gave your guy a hint.
@@sladewilson9741 I am new to GMing in Starfinder, are the Alien archives stats not a good starting point for enemies?
@@Ninja-gs7ck Not in my experience. Plus I usually have 6 pcs instead of 4
@@sladewilson9741 thanks for the feedback, i guess i have to try it a few times and see how it works for me
Cannot wait for the MCDM Villains and Monsters book to come out :)
I was thinking the exact same thing. Don’t get me wrong I’m ready for kingdoms and warfare. However, I always have room for another Villains and Monster Manual. I especially love the out of the box ideas Matt comes up with. I’ve been playing and DMing for many many years now and he always comes up with a new and most importantly fun way of designing encounters and monsters. Made me go back and buy the 4th edition core set just to mine for power and abilities for my bad guys. So I would love to see a Covillian Monster & Villain Tome.
What should they call it? I have a few thoughts:
MCDM Monster Manual
Bosses & Bad Guys
Matt's Monster Maker
I would 100% purchase that book.
MetalGlitch great title! Perfect for MCDM. Here’s to a future Bosses & Bad Guys Book or Tome or Manual lol.
BroKenny16 absolutely! Take my money too MCDM!
9:12 - "I'm not here to make more work for my self" - Matt, and I intend this in the most sincere way I can delivery this - this is some of the best advice you've given. Keep it up.
and of course.... 25:50 is another gem.
Another way of looking at it: The first time you use this design, it will also be the best monster you ever designed ;)
Because it will be the precursor of a world full of nightmare fuel monsters for your players to face.
I ran the improved ankheg against the five 10 year olds in the dnd after school club I run today. They were all level 5. I think it was the most memorable battle they've had. It was intense and almost 3 of them went down. Especially when it exploded at the end. So thank you very much for making our club even better.
Gonna have 2 of them ambush the adult group I run for at the weekend. All level 9. Very excited!
I gave a larger than normal Ankheg the effects of the Earth Tremor spell when it burrowed.
That's super cool! I love it!
Matthew Colville Your channel gave me the confidence to GM. Now, D&D is part of our homeschool curriculum and my wife and sons have all tried GMing. Thanks.
For a long time, I've believed that encounters need to "change" after two rounds, otherwise they may become boring. This genius idea of adding custom actions to add combat variation and NPC personality is freakin' GOLDEN! Thanks, Matt, you always inspire!
Seeing Matt smirk after he says "You die when I say so!" reminded me why I love this channel.
"a goblin's weapon of choice... is more goblins"
Hah! Of course! Classic goblin shenanigans!
Been doing something like this for years. In essence: play the monsters to their ability, not their stat block. I had a Chimera with a Intelligence boosting magic item drop rocks, use weather cover, etc. Tension was high.
It got away. They HATE that Chimera. Now they’re invested.
This reminds me of something I did with my Chimera. The while 8 session campaign was leading to this big dungeon and the treasury of the villain was guarding by a Chimera. The players spent their 7 sessions building a crew to go to the dungeon. They were 5th level 3 players and 4 npcs ranging from cr 1/4 to cr 2.
What I ended up doing is bumping it's hp, and giving the goat head spells (idea came from dragon's dogma). I also had it always flying as long as it had a breath attack to use so half the party couldn't reach for an attack unless they did something creative. And creative they were.
Mike Gould Mike Gould thank you. Play to your audience not to your reference books
If there's ever a 6E, they absolutely need to get Matt Colville on it!
there will be
@@chaotic28 I think they have designed 5e in a way that a 6e could never happen. The rules are soooo open that you can just change the rules to fix any problems that exist.
@@brettpage Do you mean the fact that the other two of the three core D&D pillars, exploration and social, are so underutilized and underdeveloped by the mechanics that we DMs have to figure on our own out how to actually make they work? Yeah, really open.
@@framerate269 "Do you mean the fact that the other two of the three core D&D pillars, exploration and social, are so underutilized and underdeveloped by the mechanics that we DMs have to figure on our own out how to actually make they work? Yeah, really open."
Agreed!
Welcome to OneD&D.
I love that the goblin boss has gone under minimal design changes from here to "Flee Mortals!" That is because he is without flaw.
This is the single greatest encounter balancing advice ever presented for 5th edition. I use this technique all the time now and constantly refer new DMs to this video. Thank you Matt, for being such an amazing treasure and resource!
I' ll definately use this, I get so bored with players destroying my beasties before they can do anything cool ..thank you very much! Its great inspiration
I just took a look at the final packet for "Flee, Mortals!" It's very cool to have been here for the beginning of the whole thing.
was LITERALLY just thinking "I could really go for another Running the Game right about now" about ten minutes ago. thanks for the vids, Matt
Exact same thing. I came to the channel just to see if I had missed something.
Me too, although I think that about once every ten minutes.
Same
Good stiuff. Honest, Matt, at some point you're either going to have to create an original system or have a collection of supplements that so meaningfully change 5e as to be indistinguishable from one. You're always quick to identify the weaknesses and sacred cows of D&D & suggest homebrew in a way that Wizards never will for fear of weakening the profitability of their license.
Idk, everyone likes legendary actions. I think its more an issue that they dont make tools for gms to make their own content. 5e monster creation rules are so bad and such a step back from 4e I cant help but suspect malice.
@@magnusanderson6681 This is where something like DnDBeyonds upcoming monster creator could be a massive boon to the homebrew world as it will use the backend Wizards math to do all the calculations and allow for much easier customization of new or existing monsters. They've even talked about a CR slider that will essentially up/down level an existing monster, really cool stuff.
@@TBKzord I hope this doesn't only change stats in numbers
Back again. Almost ritualistic for me to come back to this video before important fights. This really is some of the finest content you’ve ever made, matt.
You too huh. Haha
As a DM who has struggled with Monsters (especially single monsters) being too easy without being overtly Tanky/Powerful, this video is a lifesaver! I just went back to comb through all the Running the Game videos. DMing this week and I'll definitely be trying out AOMs
You forgot one obvious villain action for the goblins: "Delay them", "Slow them down", "Keep them busy" or something similar. Him shouting this means that he is about to retreat, leaving the goblins to their fate and maybe forcing the players hands. Can they afford to let him escape? They might get to see him again later if they no not stop him
It might be used after the "Kill" command round. If the gob boss sees that after every murdering effort his force cant beat the pcs, he just uses hes lackeys as meatshield to escape. Cool idea.
It might also be used as a DM screwup protection, if you accidentally used to many goblins or if the dice are not cooperating, by removing the boss from this encounter.
@@fofolacosa123 or just have "Kill" have an alternate "Do Something!" if the Goblin Boss is losing (Kill if he is winning)
Dude!... you’re awesome. Your energy is infectious and you easily hold my attention for 30+ minutes. Keep on with the great ideas!
The Running the Game series got me into, well, running the game. Each video makes me more excited to run, and more skilled at doing so.
Thanks, Matt. Thanks, MCDM.
"Acid for Blood" hmm... maybe it's an automatic reaction for when the monster drops below half hit points, or "bloodied".
It was both amazing to see my group's faces when my Bugbear boss acted on their turns and for once caused them to take a look at the boss as a real threat. They usually avoid planning much but seeing them react to a goblin running to give him a healing potion and them trying to intercept him was great. Using this for all my boss monsters, convinced me to get the stronghold and followers that I was going back and forth with.
I love how gleefully Matt talks about all the cool and exciting things he's giving to his bug monster.
the first campaign I ever ran was lost mines of phandelver. It was for friends who had never played D&D before. I rebuilt the last boss fight with the Drow in wave echo cave, and this video was really really helpful. they were blown away, not by the amount of HP the drow mage had, but what he did and all the tricks he pulled, like using the corpses of his dead giant spider minions to create an undead abomination spider, and the players were absolutely thrilled afterward, all the while the drow sat on his throne and barely moved himself, until his hubris's got him killed by the PC barbarian. Thank you Matt, it was alot of fun.
I like the idea of the acid for blood activating each time it's attacked, but with a dex save. First time it's quite hard as it's not expected, but from then on it's much easier to make as everyone knows to avoid it. This done with the number to beat changing, or with advantage after knowing about it and/or disadvantage before. The idea is it's unlikely to hit at all often after the first time, but there's a chance. Also only 1D4 damage with no bonuses.
Just DM'd my first game and it went over extremely well! All the players said they had an amazing time and said I did a great job as the DM. Thanks for all your awesome videos Matt!
9:17
This is potentially the single best advise I think any DM can hear. A lot of New DM's end up rules lawyering themselves out of DMing, when they don't have to.
Back when I was running homebrews, this is essentially the process I went through to streamline my side of encounters. When I recently started running D&D, I somehow managed to forget this. Thank you for the reminder.
Nearly two years after this I still refer to this video every now and then, while also suggesting it and all Matt's work to everyone who will listen to me.
Villain Actions and Reactions remind me of Magic: the Gathering.
Reactons: Waitwaitwait---before you go to combat.. In response!
Villain Action: Oh, on your end step...
It's like playing against Esper Control.
YES! This is that exactly! That must be why I appreciate it so much.
You just activated my Trap card! (after seeing this comment, my first thought was this)
Isn't that the same as Legendary Actions? I don't get the difference between that and Villain Action.
mAc Chaos Pretty sure it’s the same thing. Remember Matt’s played a bunch of editions, so he has to wrap all those terms around his head!
@@rconnor2006 That's true. Do you think he meant for a Villain Action to be used at the end of the monster's turn, or at some other point? And I assume, once per round, not more than once.
By Riker's beard! This blew my mind. Breaking a boss encounter down into just the key stats and abilities is genius. The villain actions as a semi-scripted set of legendary actions is such a cool concept. My brain is on fire! Thank you for posting this.
This should literally be a book. Like just start taking the monster manual and entry by entry, make a villain or solo monster out of i
I'd pay for that!
You gonna buy the book now
@@robertcox9871 already did
a few years ago i design a cockatrice matriarc that had a reaction in which she could move and up to her speed and get a free attack against whoever killed one of her babies. that's one of my favourite lvl 1 encounters i've ever made.
Hey Matt, I just wanted to say thanks for this series. I discovered it a year ago on accident with zero knowledge of D&D. After binging a few episodes I taught myself and 5 of my friends the rules. And we play every week! Now my friends are also running / playing with new people. So your videos have sparked about 15 new people into discovering D&D
This is really cool! I know it is a bit late but from this I made a Goblin Boss called Klank. A huge chunky boy who wears a patchwork mess of armour that the players can knock-off to reduce his AC.
He has a bonus action to call in 2 additional goblins (if available from a pre-rolled pool)
He has a reaction called "Gimme That!" where he can pick up a bit of armour (scattered around the lair) or steal a shield from a nearby goblin to affix to his armour, if he is hit by an attack.
My Villain Actions mostly require the goblin's to use their reaction to perform the given action. This is hoping to allow the players to continue to move around and keep it dynamic.
Then he has three Villain Actions.
"Grab One Quick!": At end of any player's turn, he allows each goblin to pickup a shield or weapon as a free action and may then use their reaction to use it either as an attack (improvised or not) or to equip it (shield / armour).
"Bring Them Down!": At end of any player's turn, all goblins can immediately use their reaction to attack a player twice.
"Protect Me, Idiots!": Near the end of battle, at the end of any player's turn, if Klank's AC is reduced to below 14, he is able to disengage and move up to his movement speed and command the remaining goblin's to do the same, forming a barrier of goblins between the players and Klank,
.
Klank has a twin sister who is more of necromancy and magic and rides a Giant Wolf Spider, so should pair nicely for a memorable and interesting fight!
Any suggestions?
I love the idea of actions tied to different rounds in combat, it makes for such a compelling fight
I know I'm super late to comment, but oh well.
A few months ago, my players were faced by a big undead giant who had a bunch of undead viking soldiers. He was essentially a big ol' healthpool with a big claw attack.
I did use this advice to spice up the fight though. Each round, he would roar as a bonus action and give the minions another multiattack. Really put the pressure on the players and they were super engaged.
Thank you for the advice! Always a great listen between sessions.
The ankheg claws you while you've prone to make sure you have been clawed. Man, I've missed your videos Matt
used the Goblin Boss against my players once, and after they experienced 2 of the abilities, the party wizard casted Silence on the Goblin Boss, and since he was in melee with the Sentinel Barbarian, he couldnt run to do the abilities, even thou i couldnt use the abilities was a fun encounter :V
Some thoughts:
I think that for boss monsters it's also important to be in the heads of the players. In the case PCs encounter a goblin boss that convokes goblins and rise them from the dead, they will probably just focus the boss. It can be a problem because they might just kill it in one or two rounds. Hence a reaction or action like "protect me with your lives!" where the selfish boss will use other goblins as shields against heroes weapons and spells, as long as there are other goblins near him. It's also a more intelligent and dynamic way to give the boss more HP. And I can imagine the massive (for a goblin) goblin boss grabbing a tiny goblin minion just to ensure not getting hurt.
For the solo monster: PCs will want to argue that they can get opportunity attacks while the beast is burrowing his way. And I'm not sure what to tell them, because it would make sense. I would probably add a screeching bonus action or something when the beast decides to burrow, forcing PCs to make a save to be able to take an opportunity attack.
I’m pretty sure that’s actually an ability that goblin bosses have, where if another goblin is standing next to them and they get hit, they can make their ally take the hit instead of them.
> PCs will want to argue that they can get opportunity attacks while the beast is burrowing his way.
Uh, not if it has a BA disengage.
Sorry that this is two years late, but:
1) Give the monster the mobile feat.
2) Let it take disengage as a bonus action
3) Unless they have sentinile, let them take the AOO and just don't subtract that damage done from the monster. They will literally have no way of knowing.
I found this at the perfect time. I have a real problem with making boring combats.
Matthew Colville looks like how I imagine Richard the Lionheart.
This is 4E D&D monster design. One of the best features of 4E was completely replacing the 3E stat blocks and "throw some sorcerer levels on it," design.
I thought 3e did that too
5e really needs some interesting solo monsters.
Action economy really matters in 5e.
Yeah solos in general are kind of tough to write in any turn based game, since it amounts to a bunch of PCs focus firing on one foe. Even legendary actions don't seem to do a hell of a lot since they're often not all that powerful to really be game changers.
It's much more dynamic in a game like Dungeon World where failing at attacking means the enemy hits you. That gets more of an interesting set up where the boss monster gets more actions the more PCs there are, and has that ability to take on the whole group at once.
Late, but Pathfinder 2e does some awesome stuff with solo monsters, especially with its action economy. A single tough enough enemy can singlehandedly take on a huge party, and the best part is that the math actually backs it up, rather than being as arbitrary as 5e's challenge rating system works
My players just reached lvl 10 and this video was exactly what i needed!
I've been trying to figure out how to do things like this for my games...and Matt Colville provides.
For "Get in here!" I might roll a d6 and on an odd number a goblin appears or something, even less thinking on my end
I freaking LOVE Matt Colville
I was legitimately struggling with this problem for my next session.
Also, possibly the best running the game video EVER
What a wonderful surprise and fantastic video! Love reading the script for this ahead of time as well. Keep fighting the good fight!
In my 4e campaign every single monster was custom made. Some were great, some were hated by the PC's. All fun
Totally agree with your monster design choices! Thank you for this awesome inspiration! I'm a 4E DM from Germany, and preferring the compact and concise monster/villain stat blocks from 4th edition to the sometimes convoluted mess that can be 5th edition, especially for spellcasting npcs. I've run into the 4E problem of solo monsters not really being able to hold up against a party of 5 slightly more powerful than average pcs for more than three rounds. My first boss monster in my first level adventure was a spectator based on the stat block of the beholder gauth in the monster manual, but it did not last long enough to inflict any meaningful damage to the party due to a freezing spell cast by the wizard slowing him down and reducing him to one action per turn only. I also forgot to make his saving throws, so that's on me. But I am sure that fight would have been more memorable if I had given the spectator more opportunities to act. I'm designing a vengeful ghost / banshee hybrid for my next adventure, and I think this time I am much better prepared. It will have a reaction to phase into the ground or through architecture and go lurking when hit by an effective attack (anything that does full damage despite it being insubstantial), it will have a rechargeable ability to try and possess a pc's body and control it until the pc saves against being possessed, a necrotic standard melee attack and a paralysing shriek that hits every creature inside a near radius, as well as a dazing gaze of horror as a standard short ranged attack. Now I just need to plan 1 villain action per round and make it one ot the ghost's special attacks. It is meant as the only monster in a small mystery adventure, so the pcs (3rd level 4E party of 5 with two healers/leaders, 2 controllers and 1 striker) will be able to go nova on it. I'm not sure yet how many hitpoints are appropriate, but 150 sound about right to me at the moment, given my experience with them fighting bosses. We'll see how it goes.
"Every round, a fresh goblin arrives." So... Krenko Mob Boss.
Yess!!! I hate krenko!
I was feeling kinda insecure about homebrewing a campaign for the first time, but this video reenergized me completely. Keep up the inspiring content!
Yes! Got advantage on game prep roll because of this Inspiration!
Thoroughly underrated comment
I used this video for my demon medusa, and it was epic. They absolutely loved it, were challenged, and felt like they had really achieved something.
You're an amazing man.
Must be the hair.
Probably the best advice you've given to date for creating dynamic monsters that become memorable encounters. Quick, dirty, effective, and best of all, if you do it right, your players think you did a lot more work than you actually did to produce results like this.
Love the new closing splash screen. Super professional 👌
The way I handle this is by giving “boss fight” enemies multiple combat turns to even out the action economy. It makes it clear how different this enemy encounter is from other ones.
Hey Matt, just in case you actually read this. I know you like cool funky languages in-game. Back in the old *The Keep on the Borderlands* they include a cool little piece of lore in the form of "yelling 'bree-yark!' is the goblin equivalent of yelling 'Hey Rube!'." @8:30 caused this to come to mind. ;-)
its desvribed in colors as "we surrender"
@@messydeskproductions4159 I think you mean "in rumours" as there is a rumour section early in the module and it does include a rumour that 'bree-yark' is goblin for 'we surrender'.
But that's clearly just Gygax trolling the players, as in the encounters it's revealed that
"If there is a cry of *'BREE-YARK' (similar to 'Hey Rube')*, 2 of the guards will rush to the secret door, toss a sack of 250 gold to the ogre and ask him to help them.
I had been doing this exact sort of advice for about a year now, and it not only works and isn’t that difficult to do, but it makes encounters feel waaaay more engaging for the DM. It makes things exciting cause now the monsters are doing things creatively that feel thematic instead of just hitting players till they die. It works, it’s fun, try it!
One of the best -build a monster - advice videos.
YES!! I have used this now in 2 different situations -- first a level 1 party against Sephek Kaltro in Rise of the Frostmaiden. Made for an EPIC fight; second for a 9th level party against a frost-giant-drider guardian a snowy mountain pass entrance into the abyss. In both cases the "villain" was a solo monster and having numerous options for "villain actions", bonus actions, and reactions, made everything SO much better without killing the party. The key for me in both cases was adding abilities around things like additional movement for the villain, debuffing the party, reactions that make the villain's flavor/theme come to life. I can't thank you enough, Matt, for sharing this freely. Hands down the single most important change I've ever made in my game and the players seemed so much more engaged during the combat than they have been against "standard" solo monsters.
You have no idea how much I needed this video.
Just have to add on to the pile. For three weeks I have rejiggered several monsters to use during my D&D games. I started with your Ankheg, and added two more of my own. The dynamicism of the encounters is just extraordinary and the players left the table totally blown away by the experience. I am not going back! Kudos!
Rahadin from Curse of Strahd was one of my favorite villians there to play just because he had multiattack as well as an AOE bonus action attack. He was a boss himself.
*THIS. VIDEO. IS. JUST. SO. RIGHTEOUS.* JUST LEAVING MY DAILY DOSE OF POSITIVITY - THE KNOWLEDGE HERE BROUGHT ME SO MUCH JOY AND INSIGHT SO LONG AGO. BRAVO MR. COLVILLE, BRAVO.
Looking back, this has been the most valuable D&D video I’ve ever watched.
This is the video that probably has had the biggest impact on my dmming. I love coming back to it again and again. I learn something new each time!
I MISSED YOU MATT
Then you need to roll higher or improve your Dexterity.
@@DarthTellor super super late but I absolutely love this comment
Thank you for what you doing. I'm a new DM playing 5e, and my wife is the PC (new, awesome character). We played a lot of tabletop tactical games in the past. The adventure I have chosen/inventing is working out really well. I like this channel so much because it is giving me many ideas to keep it interesting.
Did anyone else's mind explode at the though of "immune to flanking?" .... just me?
Hey Matt, I just wanted to say thank you for this video, it's given me a whole new perspective on how to tinker with monsters and make them both more compelling and more challenging for a group of higher level players. I've been working in action oriented encounters for a few sessions now and the players seem to love them, I don't think the players know exactly what I'm doing, but they definitely react with a ton of surprise and excitement when a hobgoblin warlord yells at his underlings they don't have permission to die and they get back up for another round of combat after the players knocked them down!
Coming soon to my game, a Yeti that sprays snow into players eyes as a reaction when it gets hit and can call down an avalanche and partially bury characters if it gets really hurt
One thing I loved in old Magic: the Gathering sets were Goblins that did things when you sacrificed them. Cards like Goblin Grenade and Mogg Fanatic.
Maybe a round 3 or 4 ability for the Goblin Boss could be that the Boss orders one of its minions to make a suicide attack? I'm just imagining a Goblin screaming "WITNESS ME!" as it grabs a torch and a cask of oil, charging at the party.
It could even be a huge dramatic event a la The Two Towers, Battle of Helm's Deep, movie version!
Makes me think of the diseased orcs that can cause themself to explode.
I've already been doing some of these things for some encounters in my games the past few months (just ideas that came to me, great minds think alike!). Action economy is SO IMPORTANT when having one monster against a party. This video is super helpful to build off the work I've been doing. Thanks so much for sharing!
I've watched every video in this series. This is my favorite.
Matt what makes you so awesome is that you look like you are having fun explaining all this to us. It is infectious and thank you!
You truly are a river to your people! We are your people!
That Ankheg is absolutely perfect for my next session. Thanks Matt!
This is pretty much exactly what I had in mind for making interesting bosses, glad to see someone who actually knows good design has the same idea.
COLVILLE'S ALIVE
DIVE COMMENTERS DIIIIVE!!!!
I heard that in Brian Blessed's voice
This is genius and it has really taken my game to a next level, made mid to high level encounters much more interesting, and made planning the encounters exciting and interesting again for me personally. I usually find plot, setting, characters to be the most interesting part of DM prep, but adding villain actions and thinking of phases of combat transformed encounter building into something akin to writing a little story. Thank you so much! You showed this DM with 25 years of experience some awesome new tricks!
This is EXACTLY what I need for my next session!
Legendary or Villain actions are absolutely key to make battles feel fun. I really like the Villain Action structure you have here. It helps enormously to have monsters not feel like bullet sponges or just pure damage dealers.
One thing I often do with opportunistic predators (lions, bears, hook horrors, etc.) is make them really mean but have them nope out when they get to about half hit points. That makes them threatening on the initial strike but also gives the PCs incentive to hit hard to drive them back. Other monsters are much more prone to fighting to the death.
I've done a goblin boss who was unthreatening itself but had an action to command other goblins to attack. It also had a reaction to sacrifice one of its goblins to take a PC blow. Eventually the PCs managed to fry most of the goblin allies and at that point the boss was pretty well useless, but they really didn't like him.
I did a similar mechanism based on the alien rulers from xcom 2 DLC. Basically they acted after every unique action a character took and It really tested the tactical aspect and shook things up for a change of pace. Im currently implementing It for Pathfinder 2, which i believe it Will work even better with the multiple actions and all.
I stumbled across this while using dnd videos as background noise. I not only paid close attention, but I ended up taking notes. This gem has revitalized my entire approach to setting up enemies and combat. Thanks Matt!
This is cool.
Love the more mechanics-oriented episodes.
This is probably my twentieth time watching this video while building monsters for my campaign. Such awesome advice. Thanks a bunch, Matt!
Been rewatching every Running the game and I'm so happy to see this
This has been the single most beneficial video I have ever seen in terms of improving combat in my own game. I've come back to rewatch it again and again.
This weekend I ran a hag boss fight that used this idea to employ a progressive series of weird homebrewed single-use magic items. One round she'd stick a wooden straw into a player's neck and suck out HP to heal herself. Another, she'd throw a set of steel teeth with wings through a window to alert allies to start executing hostages. A mirror that created a lifelinked duplicate of herself, a cloud if biting flies in a jar, a boiling teapot flying through the air trying to hit PCs in the head... it was a lot of fun to come up with wierd one-off items for her to pull out of her pockets and pouches. It was the most fun I've had running combat in DnD, and my players got a whole slew of cool, dramatic combat moments (and one of my players got to reveal a bunch of her backstory). So thankful Matt shares his talent for design with us.
I feel like the Goblin Boss is Bogan Redcap.
Matt! Thanks so much for everything you do! I recently took over as our groups DM in September and over the last two weeks have been consuming every video you have on "Running the Game." I've already put so much of it to use and this video is no exception. Congrats on the new Kickstarter as well, you have a backer in me as I just want to say thank you for all the help you have been for me and my group.